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Tuesday, September 10, 2019

If You and I Had Coffee | vol 39

If you and I had coffee...

We'd meet at Starbucks and I'd order a pumpkin spice latte. Yeah, I know... I'm allowing myself to have one this fall, as a treat in celebration of the new season. While we were standing in line for our drinks, I'd confess that I'm not a big fan of the sugary beverages that become so popular. I have the type of personality who will outrightly reject anything that is trendy, solely based on principle, and I'm okay with that. I'd rather enjoy my tea and let everyone deal with the blood sugar crashes.

When our drinks were ready, we'd take them outside and find a little table on the patio. September weather is perfect with cool mornings and warmer afternoons. What I love most about this month is that all the pesky insects of the humid summer days are gone, so we could enjoy our chat in the sunshine.

If you and I had coffee...

I'd tell you that I'm working on a few new writing projects this fall and I'm so excited about all of them. Looking back over the last year, my post count on the blog has dropped to only a handful every month, and I'm doing the bare minimum on the freelance side. I want to focus on kicking it up a notch this autumn. One of the new projects I'm incorporating is having a writing buddy. One of my good friends is teaming up with me to commit to writing eight hundred words a week. It always helps to have someone hold you accountable when you set any goal, and it's also fun to get to read what your partner is working on before they share it live.

One other project I've been thinking about is starting a small workshopping group. It would be five or six writers who share things they are working on and have the rest of the group read the pieces and provide feedback. I can remember doing these in high school and college literature and writing classes when it was time to write an essay or a research paper, and they were so helpful. Sometimes, someone else's eyes can catch mistakes we might not see ourselves, and learning from the experience others have in reading our pieces help make us better writers.

If you and I had coffee...

I'd ask you if you've jumped on the chicken sandwich bandwagon yet. I keep hearing about this battle between two fast-food chain restaurants and everyone is posting all over social media about it. Apparently, Popeyes brought out a new chicken sandwich and was throwing down on Twitter, calling out Chik-fil-A and saying their sandwich was better. Well, in a matter of days, Popeyes restaurants were sold out and lines were wrapped around city blocks with people waiting to try this elusive menu item. I'd tell you that being a vegetarian has its perks because I have no desire to sit in line waiting for a piece of meat.

I'd also tell you how I think social media has completely changed the way we look at advertising. Before, you'd only hear about new menu items on television or on those signs posted around the restaurant drive-thru. Now, the social media managers for these restaurants (and in many other industries) are getting creative and thinking of ways to make the news go viral. I first realized this when Starbucks brought out their unicorn frappuccino. I hadn't heard a peep about it from the coffee shop themselves, but rather the viral posts on Instagram.

If you and I had coffee...

I'd share with you that I've been spending a lot of time outdoors with my camera. I've been feeling like Snow White lately because there are deer and rabbits and butterflies hanging around when I'm out there. Living in the middle of a mountain range, it's not unusual to see these critters, but they don't normally come right up into the front yard. I've gotten some great shots and try to squeeze in a little time here and there to pull the photographs up on my computer for editing. This is all to say that if you catch me dancing around the backyard singing A Smile and a Song, I'm just pretending to be a Disney princess.

If you and I had coffee...

I'd confide that I've been working on patience and understanding, two qualities that don't come easy for me. The first one is no secret, but the second is one that recently uprooted itself when I was having a disagreement with someone I love. I'm an INFJ and, even though I'd like to think it's not, my judger quality is quite strong. Not in a critical way, but more so that I feel that if I can grasp a certain concept easily, others should be able to as well. I had to sit down and process things after this particular conversation and come to the understanding that not everyone thinks like me. We are all different and I need to remember this when conflict arises in the future.

I was happy to sit down and have a long talk with this person and we discussed the differences in which we handle certain things. He now understands where I was coming from and I, he. Looking back at how I've managed conflict in the past, I can say that five years ago, I probably would have blown this friendship off and moved on with my life, but this person is really important to me and I think maintaining a healthy relationship is worth some painful self-reflection and adjustment of future actions. All in the name of growth, right?

If you and I had coffee...

We'd linger over empty cups and soak up as much of the sun as possible before needing to get back to our day. I'd tell you how much I enjoy these chats every month and how I'm glad to see our friendship growing with each one. We'd finish the conversation with a hug and a promise to meet again soon.

Now, it's your turn! If you wrote a coffee date post, I'd love for you to link up below so we can all meet together! Just click the "add your link" box and follow the instructions to submit.

If you link up, please hop around and visit some of the other bloggers who are joining us. Coffee dates are all about meeting friends and building community after all, and link dropping doesn't help with either. ❤

What would you like to chat about over coffee?Every second Tuesday of the month, we gather together with our favorite hot beverages and catch up. Care to join us? Our next date will be Tuesday, October 8th. Hope to see you there!

34 comments:

I'm with you on both of your first points. I drink lots of tea and a little coffee but without hyper-quantity of sugar. Sugar isn't good for our health. I haven't tried the chicken sandwiches and have no desire to. Did you know KFC plans to offer meatless "chicken" soon? It's plant-based food made by one of the new companies (Beyond, I believe).

Yes, sugar is terrible for our bodies. I'm always surprised by how many sneaky places it's lurking. I've heard about the meatless chicken. I don't eat meat - don't care for the taste or the texture of it, so having something that tries to replicate the meat experience doesn't interest me at all. I'll stick with my veggies. :)

The chicken sandwich war is bonkers. I just can't believe how many people care so passionately about this topic! And I like the sound of your writers group. I'd like to get involved in something like that, but I write fiction so I'm not sure if that would be a good fit for what you had in mind for your group.

I love that you are spending so much time outside with your camera lately. Whenever I see a rabbit, or butterfly, or really any happy creature it just makes my day. I'm also an INFJ and I am constantly taking time to think about other people's thoughts and reasoning because I can also be judgmental when people I love dont think like I do.

I totally understand on the sugary drinks. I tried the pumpkin cold brew and it's not quite as sweet as the PSL, but I think it's still pretty sugary. I'll be joining you with my coffee chat tomorrow. I hope your writing goes well and think your workshopping group is a great idea!

I always love these posts so much and think I’d like to link up with you girls for this one ❤️ I’ve also been in such a weird place creatively lately and love that you have a writing buddy to hold you accountable for 800 words each week. What an incredible thing!

I had heard some rumblings about Popeyes and another rival chain but like you don’t eat meat either so the whole thing didn’t really capture my attention, but it is weird how we get our news now isn’t it? I work in influencer marketing so see a lot of this first-hand and what a change from traditional forms of advertising.

Not a sugar-y drink person myself but there isn’t a cup of Dunkin’ coffee I’d ever turn down.

Also I love how mature you were in recognizing that you and your friend have very different ideas of how to communicate but that you didn’t rule him out completely because of it. That is evolution and growth, my dear ❤️

We would love to have you join us! It is so weird how we get our news. My Instagram stories blew up with people talking about chicken sandwiches and I wondered what planet I had landed on for a minute... I know people who prefer Dunkin' to the other big coffee chains. Thank you for your sweet words, friend. <3

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds this whole chicken thing so strange. And I think the writer's workshop could work for all genres. I haven't quite worked out all the details yet, but I think it would be more fun to read different types of work. :)

This post was so beautiful. I am not big on fads either- no unicorn Frappuccino for me (and Gasp! HATE pumpkin spice anything due to a pumpkin pie incident when I was little). I love that you are having cooler mornings. We do too here as well, but our cools have been lasting the whole day. I think it did not crack 60 degrees today here. And I love that you have been using your camera more. I am not sure that I ever knew you enjoyed photog. Which camera do you have. As always thanks for hosting the coffee dates!

Haha! It's amazing how those childhood "incidents" can turn you off to certain foods, eh? I'm so jealous of you cool days. We had a few teasers over the weekend, but are back up into the 90s again. Over it! I need some cozy weather. I used to own a photography business with my ex-husband and we disbanded with the divorce, obviously. I haven't done much real photography since then, but I'm starting to find my stride with it again and I do like it. I'm a Nikon girl and have an old school camera body, but it works great and is perfect for what I'm using it for now. :)

I'm really trying to increase my IG following and I need to put more time into that. I've been spending time on getting blog posts Monday through Friday set up each week but I'm falling behind on my IG posts.

Did you know that I've never had a pumpkin spice latte? I only heard of it recently but it's something I'd like to try! That is exciting that you're getting more into writing again. Having a writing buddy is a good idea - I hope that helps. Your outdoor photography amongst the wildlife sounds delightful! I'm also an INFJ, I wonder if there's quite a high proportion among bloggers. I love how we're all getting to know each other through these posts too! Lovely to have coffee with you today, Lecy!

I'm glad you were able to sit down with your friend and you both now know where each other are coming from. It can be tough to do, so good for you. I've never had a PSL. I like mocha frappicinos, but I'm trying to be healthier. LOL I like the idea of a writing group - and a buddy to keep you accountable with writing. I want to get back into my fiction writing this Fall.

Mocha fraps are good, but I try to stay away from them. One look at the nutritional information will scare me away! I'm definitely going to focus on fiction this fall. I'm hoping to actually complete a NaNoWriMo month this year. ::fingers crossed::

Honestly, you're not missing much with the pumpkin latte. They aren't that good and they are about the same calorie count as a small meal. I think you're right about a lot of bloggers being INFJ. We must all be drawn to the same type of creative work. :)

Oh, this is lovely. This is so great especially having a writing buddy it does great contribution. I've never tried PSL, I am more of a black strong coffee person but it won't hurt to give it a try, hahaha. You are right social media does change so much, new around the world travel so fast. Thank you for a lovely post. :)

Here at ASG, we share heartfelt stories about life, gratitude, and our creative passions and offer each other a little encouragement along the way. If you want to make some new friends and connect on a deeper level, brew yourself a cup and stick around.